The establishment of the first American consulate in Shanghai can be traced back to the middle of19th century. As early as 1844, the United States signed the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Trade with the Qing government of China. Without officially appointing a consul, Henry Wolcott, an American businessman, raised the Stars and Stripes at the top of his office near the Bund in the Shanghai office of a trading company in Boston, thus becoming the first American consul in Shanghai.
1854, facing the increasing trade and interests of the United States in Shanghai, the United States government appointed Ma Hui as the first official consul of the United States in Shanghai. His office is located at No.36 Huangpu Road on the north bank of Suzhou Creek, which soon became the center of the American Concession. With the increasingly close ties between Shanghai and the West, American consulates have also developed.
186 1 year, President Lincoln appointed Seward as the American consul in Shanghai, and was promoted to consul general two years later. During the 65,438+05 years when Seward was in power, the American concession expanded continuously and merged with other foreign concessions to form an international concession. By the beginning of the 20th century, more than 65,438+0,500 Americans had settled in Shanghai. American communities set up companies, hospitals, schools and educational exchange institutions in Shanghai, which further promoted Shanghai's economic development and life progress. 19 16, in order to meet the needs of the rapid growth of the number of employees and the continuous expansion of the scope of work, the US Consulate moved to the new building at Huangpu Road 13- 14. This new building with a value of $355,000 was the most expensive American embassy and consulate building in the world at that time. By 1930s, the US Consulate had 65,438+00 officials from the State Council, a trade commissioner from the Ministry of Commerce, a commissioner from the Ministry of Agriculture, an American court, prison, dock, post office in China and a parade ground for visiting navy and marine corps soldiers. Before World War II, Shanghai was the seventh largest city in the world and the financial and commercial center of Asia. However, in 1932, Japan attacked Zhabei District of Shanghai, which plunged the trade between Shanghai and the West into chaos for many years. The development of 1933 made the US Consulate General in Shanghai leave the American Concession for the first time in 80 years and move to the south bank of Suzhou River. Originally located in the former site of Kalei Hotel, No.248-250 Jiangxi Road, it was moved to Development Building in the southwest corner of Jiangxi Road and Fuzhou Road on 1936. And194165438+February, the Japanese army invaded Shanghai, forcing the US consulate to close in wartime.
1 September 5, 945, less than1month after Japan surrendered, the American consulate reopened in the former site of the Green Mail Ship Building on the Bund No.28, which was the location of the German consulate during the war. Shanghai after the war is very different from that before the war. The foreign concession was cancelled and the whole country soon fell into civil war. On May 29th 1949, China People's Liberation Army marched into Shanghai. New People's Republic of China (PRC) does not recognize the diplomatic status of consular officials. On April 25th, 1950, Consul General Ma Kangwei lowered the American flag and closed the consulate. It was not until several decades later that the United States and China resumed formal diplomatic relations and the American Consulate reopened. The current consulate building is built in 192 1. The building had changed hands several times before the American consulate moved in. It was Jardine Matheson, the largest British trading company in Asia at that time. During World War II, a Japanese businessman moved in with his family and later became the residence of the Swiss Consul General. 1946, Rong Hongyuan, the descendant of the textile king, bought this property, but left Shanghai soon. With the establishment of People's Republic of China (PRC), this building was used by the Women's Federation. It used to be the center of "political education" during the Cultural Revolution, and later became a government guest house until the American Consulate signed a contract to become the new owner of Xiaoyanglou.
From 65438 to 0972, with the signing of the Shanghai Communique, Shanghai became a symbol of the normalization of US-China relations. 1on April 28th, 980, after being closed for almost 30 years, the American Consulate reopened at its present address: Huaihai Middle Road 1469. An employee of the old consulate in China gave an American flag to Donald Anderson, then Consul General, which was the same flag lowered by the former Consul General 30 years ago. At present, this national flag hangs in the reception room of the consulate and becomes a symbol of the historical ties between the old and new consulates. During the period of 1997 and 2003-2005, the consulate carried out two large-scale internal and external renovations to preserve the aesthetic feeling of the building and improve its practicability.